Democracy for New Mexico

NM-02: Harry Teague to Host Election Night Party in Hobbs; Campaign Hosts Party in Las Cruces

Harry Teague and DPNM Chair Brian Colon contemplate victory

NM-02 Congressional candidate Harry Teague plans to be in his hometown of Hobbs and in the surrounding area on Election Day and will host a victory party at his Hobbs campaign headquarters at 124 E. Broadway on Election Night. All are invited.

Also even though Harry won't be able to be there, the Teague campaign will host an election night party at their headquarters in Las Cruces at 139 N. Downtown Mall, starting at 7:00 PM. The more the merrier. Go Harry!

(Updated) NM-03: Luján to Meet Voters Today in Las Vegas, Mora, Taos; Election Night Party Tuesday

Update: You can listen to an excellent interview with Lujan conducted by Peter St. Cyr at What's the Word. Ben Ray discussses his plans for the next few days, as well as his priorities when (if) he takes the oath of office in DC.
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Today, Ben Ray Luján, the Democratic nominee for Congress in NM-03, will meet with voters in Las Vegas, Mora and Taos. Full Schedule, Monday, November 3:

Noon-1:30 PM: Ben Ray Luján will attend a Canvass Kickoff rally in Las Vegas with Chairman Brian Colón and State Auditor Hector Balderas, Las Vegas Campaign for Change Office, 213 Plaza Street, Las Vegas

2:00-3:00 PM: Ben Ray Luján will visit with voters and local businesses in Mora

5:00-8:00 PM: Ben Ray Luján will attend a Last Call for Change phone bank in Taos with Chairman Brian Colón and State Auditor Hector Balderas, Taos Campaign for Change Office, 729 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur, Taos

Ben Ray Luján will also host an Election Night Watch Party on Tuesday, November 4, at 7:00 PM at the Hotel Santa Fe, 1501 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe. All are welcome.

11/3: Udall, Bingaman Visit Roswell, Carlsbad, Santa Rosa, Albuquerque

U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Tom Udall along with U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman will campaign in Roswell, Carlsbad, Santa Rosa, and Albuquerque today. Udall will speak at a Rotary Club in Albuquerque before flying to Roswell with Bingaman for an event at the Roswell Industrial Air Center Airport. Udall and Bingaman will then help NM-02 Congressional Candidate Harry Teague get out the vote in Carlsbad before flying to Santa Rosa for his final town hall of the campaign season. Details:

ALBUQUERQUE ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS
Rep. Tom Udall
Monday, November 3rd, 12 – 1 PM
Hotel Albuquerque, 800 Rio Grande Boulevard

GOTV MEET AND GREET & ROSWELL CONTROL TOWER TOUR
Rep. Tom Udall and Sen. Jeff Bingaman
Monday, November 3rd, 2:30 – 3:30 PM
Roswell Industrial Air Center Airport
Great Southwest Aviation Training Classroom
1 Jerry Smith Circle, Roswell, NM

CARLSBAD RALLY WITH HARRY TEAGUE
Rep. Tom Udall, Harry Teague, Sen Jeff Bingaman
Monday, November 3rd, 4 – 5 PM
Courthouse Lawn, 102 N. Canal St.

SANTA ROSA TOWN HALL
Rep. Tom Udall, Sen. Jeff Bingaman
Monday, November 3rd, 6:15 – 7:15 PM
Route 66 Auto Museum, 2766 Historic Route 66

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Final Battleground Polls

Political Wire provides the final battleground polls on six states, five of which went for Bush last time: 

Florida: Mason-Dixon, PPP, Quinnipiac, Zogby
Pennsylvania: Morning Call, Mason-Dixon, PPP, Quinnipiac, SurveyUSA, Zogby
Ohio: Columbus Dispatch, Mason-Dixon, PPP, Quinnipiac, Ohio Poll, Zogby
North Carolina: PPP, Mason-Dixon, Zogby
Virginia: PPP, SurveyUSA, Mason-Dixon, Zogby
Nevada: Mason-Dixon, Zogby

Sunday Bird Blogging: O-Ba-Ma! O-Bos-Co! O-Sun-Ny!

Bosco loves his bell toy, and Obama. The rubber chicken? Not so much.

Bosco the peach-faced lovebird has endorsed Obama for President. The other day we caught him chanting O-BAMA, O-BOSCO, O-BAMA, O-BOSCO to the neighborhood avians, promoting both himself and Barack. I guess he's secretly running for some elected office in Birdville. Could it be nest inspector? Toy marshal? We may never know. The bird world is usually mum on that kind of info. I've heard they're very wary about being intercepted by the (bird on a) wire tappers.

In the video above, Bosco seems more interested in pinching the feet off the rubber chicken than in giving a few love pecks to Obama. Don't let that fool you. He thinks the rubber chicken is a McCain supporter. And he's not pleased.

Sunny the sun conure also came out publicly for Obama in the avian media today. As you can see, he was very relaxed, even sleepy, at today's press conference. Well, he HAS worked long and hard for the grassroots group Squawking Parrots for Barawk, so I guess Sunny's entitled to take just a little break on a beautifully sunny Sunday in Albuquerque. No mercy for the humans though -- every second counts! What are YOU doing today and tomorrow and Tuesday to GOTV?

Clean Sweep in the Making? Albuquerque Journal Poll Has Obama, Udall, Heinrich, Teague, Lujan Leading

Following on the heels of the last SurveyUSA poll that has Obama leading McCain 52-45% (58-39% with early voters), and Tom Udall ahead of Steve Pearce 56% to 42% (61-35% with early voters), the final polls of this election cycle conducted by Research and Polling Inc. for the Albuquerque Journat show Democrats ahead in the Presidential contest and all the Congressional races. Unfortunately, the Journal polling has small samples and a high margin of error in the U.S. House races, at plus or minus 5%. The surveys interviewed about 400 voters in NM-01 and NM-02, and only 201 in NM-03.

The Presidential and U.S. Senate sampling is somewhat better, with an MOE at plus or minus 3%, based on phone interviews with 1,002 registered voters statewide. 

As usual, the Journal has failed to release the full cross-tabs, so we're operating somewhat in the dark here. Weighting methodology? Not revealed. Breakdown of respondents who've already voted vs. those who say they will? Not revealed. You get the picture. But the results nonetheless provide an interesting snapshot of New Mexico's registered voters who said they had voted or will vote during the period October 28-30, 2008, and the trends are all tilting Democratic:

Presidential
Obama (D) 51%
McCain (R) 43%
Undecided 5%
Other 1%

Women:
Obama 52%
McCain 42%

Men:
Obama 50%
McCain 44%

Hispanics:
Obama 66%
McCain 25%
Undecided 7%

Anglos:
Obama 43%
McCain 52%

Ages Groups:
18-34: Obama 56%, McCain 38%
35-49: Obama 43%, McCain 49%
50-64: Obama 57%, McCain 38%
65+: Obama 50%, McCain 45%

Geographic:
Central (ABQ Metro): Obama 58%, McCain 36%
North Central: Obama 70%, McCain 30%
Northwest: Obama 26%, McCain 69%
Southwest: Obama 48%, McCain 41%
Eastern: Obama 34%, McCain 58%

Independents (Decline to State):
Obama 49%
McCain 34%
Undecided 11%

Democrats:
Obama 83%

Republicans:
McCain 88%

According to the Journal:

"There is not a lot of cross-over voting going on, and, for the Republicans to win, they typically need to get around 20 percent of the Democratic vote and slightly more independents," Sanderoff said. "McCain hasn't picked up as many Democrats as he needs and Obama is ahead on independents. "People are pretty much voting along party lines, but the independents are moving toward Obama," Sanderoff said.

U.S. Senate
Tom Udall (D) 53%
Steve Pearce (R) 39%
Undecided 8%

NM-01 U.S. House
Martin Heinrich (D) 47%
Darren White (R) 43%
Undecided 10%

NM-02 U.S. House
Harry Teague (D) 45%
Ed Tinsley (R) 41%
Undecided 14%

NM-03 U.S. House
Ben Ray Lujan (D) 51%
Dan East (R) 23%
Carol Miller (I) 12%
Undecided 14%

Must Hear: Quebec Comedians Prank Clueless Palin

If you need any more evidence that Sarah Palin is a clueless wannabe, check out the video above and this Open Secretsarticle about a prank phone call to the VP candidate from two notable Quebec comedians known as the Masked Avengers. They easily convince Palin they are President Sarkozy of France and his aide, and lead her through a 6-minute conversation spiced up with references to Sarkozy's sex life with his wife, and a Palin video spoof by Hustler. Priceless. 

Some have questioned whether Palin "deserved" this prank. A commenter in a Kos diary about the trick call puts it best: "She deserved it for sitting down with no pre-conditions." (H/T Karlos.)

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McCain NM Robocalls Claim Obama Will Sack Medicare & Social Security, Raise My Taxes and More

I just got a robocall from the McCain-Palin campaign claiming that Obama's "spread the wealth" policies will jeopardize Social Security and Medicare. It claimed Obama would take money out of those programs and give it to people who don't pay taxes. Funny, it's always been McCain et al. who've been dying to cut Medicare, and we all know about the GOP's frenzy to privatize Social Security. Desperate, desperate, desperate. Liars, liars, liars. Imagine wasting robocall funds to contact someone like me -- a lifelong Democrat -- with something so transparently dishonest as this myth. 

Update 1: Within minutes I got another robocall from the McCain-Palin campaign, this time claiming that Obama will raise my taxes. Funny, I don't make more than $250,000 a year so I wonder why they're contacting me. Oh wait, they're just spreading more manure like the manure they've been spreading for almost their entire campaign. That McCain -- what an honorable guy.

Update 2: Believe it or not, I just received my third McCain-Palin campaign robocall within 5 minutes. This one was a woman's voice warning ominously that Obama is supported by "radical abortion organizations" like Planned Parenthood and that he has no values. Just the fact that I got these three nasty robocalls within minutes of one another tells me all I need to know about the "values" of McCain and Palin. Country First my ass.

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Heather Wilson Pushing Limbaugh Talking Points

You knew it would come to this. We have soon to be ex-NM-01 Congresswoman Heather Wilson hawking Rush Limbaugh talking points about Obama on a phone call with the "local press" (such that it is). Surprise, the Albuquerque Journal gave the Limbaugh-Wilson talking points front-page coverage today.

The big story? Gov. Bill Richardson, while on the road in Virginia, did a phone interview with Steffan Tubbs and April Zesbaugh on Denver's KOA "Colorado Morning News" in which he muffed a statistic late in the interview. The host led off the interview this way:

"... People in our listening audience certainly equate Barack Obama to a socialist, basically. Your reaction to that?"

Richardson called the socialist charge unfounded and repeated the Obama campaign's promise that, for "anybody under $250,000, there is no tax increase."

Clearly, Richardson originally stated that no family earning under $250,000 would pay increased taxes under Obama's economic plan. (The Obama plan also states families earning under $200,000 would get a tax cut.) That's factual. Later in the interview, Richardson obviously misspoke and used a cut-off figure of $120,000. Whoo. You'd think the sky was falling. Or the Russkis were coming. Karl Marx is in the house!

Radio comedian Rush Limbaugh, who has been in quite a tizzy anyway these days with the right-wing's ship sinking like a stone, jumped on the error likety-split. He took the tacky tack, like the clown he is, that Richardson's mistake proves that Obama (that socialist!) plans to raise taxes on all Americans in a stealthy plot to enrich the poor. Or something. And of course Limbaugh and his followers are using a clip that contains only the flub, omitting what Richardson said earlier in the interview. You know how they are. Click to listen to the entire interview.

Heather Hearts Rush
Okay, we expect a noted liar and GOP tool like Limbaugh to push a silly story like this to try and hold onto his bottom-feeding listeners and keep the GOP "base" incensed enough to vote. But Heather Wilson likes to portray herself as a dignified, brainy analyst of all things political, so her descent into Limbaugh territory represents a real tumble into wingnut territory. Obviously, she craves a post within a McCain-Palin administration so badly that she's willing to become another voice in the say anything to win crowd. I guess she's not as "moderate" as she always claimed at election time.

Here's some of what Heather said:

During a conference call with New Mexico reporters, Wilson charged that the Obama camp is "preparing America" for a tax boost.

"I think Gov. Richardson spoke the truth this morning," said Wilson, who was campaigning in New Hampshire for McCain. "(Richardson) is aspiring to be a Cabinet member under an Obama administration. Someone at that level can't afford to make a stupid mistake like that. He's telling the truth. ... Wilson said she was "amazed" by Richardson's on-air comment. "The reality is, they want our money," she charged. "Not just rich people's money. Not just Joe the Plumber's money."

No, Heather. Richardson made a mistake and cleared it up quickly, which you well know. You're the one who's lying, just like you lied when you stole your husband's case file at the NM Department of Children, Youth and Families when you became its Secretary, and wouldn't admit what you did until you were cornered. And spare me the "Joe the Plumber" BS too. We all know by now that Joe isn't named Joe and that he's an unlicensed ham who owes back taxes and is using his 15 minutes of fame to try and get a leg up as a country music singer -- and threaten to run for office.

Obama Campaign Reveals Truth
The Obama campaign responded:

“Gov. Richardson admitted that he simply misspoke, and yet Sen. McCain continues this dishonest, desperate political attack to distract voters from the fact that his low-road campaign is being rejected by voters across the country,” Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said, responding to comments Sen. McCain also made today referring to Richardson’s remark. “The truth is that Sen. Obama wants to give tax breaks to 95 percent of workers and their families, while Sen. McCain’s plan provides no tax relief for more than 100 million Americans.”

End of story. Unless you're one of the "journalists" dedicated to flogging false stories generated by Rush Limbaugh and his clones. And this time, Heather Wilson is one of the clones. Understand, she's hard up for a job. She must think she's got nothing left to lose. I wonder what she'll do when Obama-Biden are inaugurated.

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You're Invited: DPNM Election Night Celebration

Part of the hardworking DPNM team: Chair Brian Colon,
Executive Director Josh Geise, Press Secretary Conchita Cruz

On Tuesday, November 4th, please join the Democratic Party of New Mexico, Rep. Tom Udall, Martin Heinrich and local Democratic elected officials and candidates in Albuquerque for Election Night:

Democratic Party of New Mexico Election Night Celebration
Albuquerque Convention Center
401 2nd St NW, Albuquerque, NM
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Doors Open: 7:00PM

This event is free and open to the public. Please forward widely. Tickets are not required, however, please RSVP here.

For Hotel Accommodations: Hyatt Regency Albuquerque, 330 Tijeras NW, (505) 842-1234. For reduced rates, please indicate you are with the Democratic Party of New Mexico. Contact Beth Adams for more information - (505)380-3650.

Photos by M.E. Broderick. Click on images for larger versions. See more.